the BEST guide to waxing your skis

After 8 years experience of waxing my own skis, I have found out the best way to wax skis.

This is solely my own method, compare it to yours and see what differs.

1) firstly, I look at the wax I use, DataWax butane or Holmenkol natural ski wax works best, since I work at the chill factore in manchester most of my slope time is dedicated there. the wax is based on what temprature you are skiing in, 0 to -16 degrees centigrade is your best bet.

2) remove the old wax using a scraper, they are fairly cheap, but if you are on a budget you can always use a ruler.

3) go over the base of the ski from tip to tail with a nylon brush, again they are cheap. do this a couple of times on each ski, this will help clean the ski.

4) use a rub on wax like butta to coat the base of the ski, run the wax up and down the ski with a nice amount of pressure, but not too hard.

5) scrape most of it off using your scraper, you now have a nice coating to protect your skis when you do the proper wax job, step 4 will prevent your skis from being scorched by the iron.

6) set the temprature of your iron to the middle of the wax iron on temprature range, for me it would be 125 degrees centigrade.

7) once the iron is up to temperature hold the wax to the iron soleplate so it drips onto the base of the ski in a nice zig zag shape up and down the ski, if the wax smokes your iron is too hot and you will damage the ski.

8) once you have done step 7, iron on the wax in a straight line, from middle to tip and middle to tail. if the wax seems to dry right where you just ironed on this is a teltale sign that you have the temperature of the iron just right.

9) leave the ski to cool for about 20-30 minutes

10) scrape off the wax using your scraper, again from tip to tail. once you have done this the wax shavings should be binned, do not reuse them. take the nylon brush and brush the ski from tip to tail, repeat this until the ski has a shiny base, you will notice your scraper has a cut out in a corner of it, this is to take the wax off your edges.

11) repeat steps 1-10 with the other ski and that is your skis all waxed and ready to be edged

Your intro to us is telling us the "best" way to wax? Because you have eight years experience doing your own? Well, I've got nine, so there.

Seriously, why would you introduce yourself this way? It's like begging to be tarred and feathered. There's probably as many ways to wax as there are skiers. And whatever they do works for them. Maybe you should reword the title.

Hey, OP, there are people here who wax for World Cup competitors. It would be a good idea to peruse this section of the board before giving advice. I read here a fair amount but I never presume to tell anyone about what I do since it's much less quality than others perform. Welcome to Epic.

I have been waxing my skis for a few more decades. I have now become lazy, but live in the land of ice and hardpack, so here's all I do:

1) Sharpen side edges (rarely sharpen base edges, but do sometimes - base first) razor sharp. Will use base tape on my SG skis, but too lazy to do it with the other skis.

2) Brush all of edge filings and most of dirt off skis using whatever cheap brush I bought at the Horse Tack store.

3) Set Iron half-way between Silk and Rayon.

4) Drip correct wax for tomorrow's temperature randomly on ski bases, drops about 1.5 to two inches apart. Yes I know use less wax = less to scrape off but I'm still afraid to not get good coverage; I must have wax between my p-tex and my iron, and wax is cheap.

5) Iron wax into ski base

6a) Go to bed and let skis dry/cool overnight

6b) Wake up and drink coffee (Very important - skipping coffee leads to not being fully awake and then cutting fingers on ski edges)

7) Scrape off wax with plastic scraper

8) Brush with expensive (exclusive to ski stores who need to make lot's of money on this stuff because no one can afford to buy skis at their shop) stiff brush

Several posts into a thread about waxing skis and not a single mention of what kind of beer to drink and/or how many during the process? Blasphemy! A good beer (or five) during a wax session is like taking communion.

Several posts into a thread about waxing skis and not a single mention of what kind of beer to drink and/or how many during the process? Blasphemy! A good beer (or five) during a wax session is like taking communion.

About an hour or so after the start, one needs to shift to a high hydration level, ease off on the carbs, and start pushing protein. Vinho verde, Arneis, Cortese/Gavi work here, also Virginia whites and maybe _southern_ french sauvignon blanc. Slovenian whites, Swiss whites, Quebecker Seyval Blanc. Stay *away* from the Pouilly-Fumé*. Snack: bresaola, sujouk, biltong Utah option: jerky of any sort.

At the 5 hour mark, one needs something that can s-t-r-e-t-c-h for a long time. A nice Zin maybe. Orin Swift Saldo maybe.

7 hours time for something a little different. A glass of amontillado? Lustau Escuadrilla for whiskeylike flavours and palate cleansing both.

8 hours. How much is left to do? If more than 5 pairs, time to start thinking about Chinese food. Etchart Torrontes or a NY state Riesling (Konstantin Frank is the default here).
If fewer than 5 pairs, maybe a white port? Goose Watch can work here.

10 hours. Put the power tools down you're getting tipsy. Time for corking in wax by hand. Faster! Harder! Faster! A nice fruity obstler, plum peach or apple, works here. A decent white rum is also not to be despised. Snack: maple syrup over crushed ice.

*NOTE: pretty much any Loire white should be regarded as drinkable during storage waxing or glacier waxing only.

About an hour or so after the start, one needs to shift to a high hydration level, ease off on the carbs, and start pushing protein. Vinho verde, Arneis, Cortese/Gavi work here, also Virginia whites and maybe _southern_ french sauvignon blanc. Slovenian whites, Swiss whites, Quebecker Seyval Blanc. Stay *away* from the Pouilly-Fumé*. Snack: bresaola, sujouk, biltong Utah option: jerky of any sort.

At the 5 hour mark, one needs something that can s-t-r-e-t-c-h for a long time. A nice Zin maybe. Orin Swift Saldo maybe.

7 hours time for something a little different. A glass of amontillado? Lustau Escuadrilla for whiskeylike flavours and palate cleansing both.

8 hours. How much is left to do? If more than 5 pairs, time to start thinking about Chinese food. Etchart Torrontes or a NY state Riesling (Konstantin Frank is the default here).
If fewer than 5 pairs, maybe a white port? Goose Watch can work here.

10 hours. Put the power tools down you're getting tipsy. Time for corking in wax by hand. Faster! Harder! Faster! A nice fruity obstler, plum peach or apple, works here. A decent white rum is also not to be despised. Snack: maple syrup over crushed ice.

*NOTE: pretty much any Loire white should be regarded as drinkable during storage waxing or glacier waxing only.

I like the way you think, but I think after 6 hours something substantial like a 20+ yr old Taylor Fladgate might be called for, and also I can foresee increased danger of cut fingers with your regimen.

I like the way you think, but I think after 6 hours something substantial like a 20+ yr old Taylor Fladgate might be called for, and also I can foresee increased danger of cut fingers with your regimen.

I see where you're going with that and it's a lateral option, but it would tend to advance the coffee time forward, no?

Cut fingers? We can has steel goblets. The rest is within the scope of the extant, prophylactic analgesia.

But, seriously, with 3-4-5 friends working on stuff and chatting the above program is perfectly feasible without waste or leglessness and the proof is we do it at least twice during ski swap season.

Holy crap. All my wine guy flags just went up. But remind me never to wax with you if I want to ski the next day.

Tuna, you are clearly someone who appreciates the stuff that's interesting because of what it really is, not for interesting's sake. Lustau sherry ... you da man! Your Loire comment was funny, but not sure I took it the way you meant it. (I like good Loires.)

Anyway, along these lines, just had this dry Tokaj for the first time the other night and loved it. Must try. The lagrein rose is very pretty too.